THE CURRENT STATE OF NIGERIA’S SECURITY INDUSTRY DELIVERED BY DAVIDSON AKHIMIEN (NATIONAL PRESIDENT ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED PRIVATE SECURITY PRACTITIONERS OF NIGERIA ALPSPN)

THE CURRENT STATE OF NIGERIA’S SECURITY INDUSTRY DELIVERED BY DAVIDSON AKHIMIEN (NATIONAL PRESIDENT ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED PRIVATE SECURITY PRACTITIONERS OF NIGERIA ALPSPN)

Your excellencies, representatives don Public Security Agencies, Chief Executive Officers of private security companies and other stakeholders of private security industry, conference delegate, exhibitors, representatives of media, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the National Executive of the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria, I give special commendation to the organizers of this event who, I am sure, must have put in tons of hard work to Pull off an event of this magnitude.

We recall how Securex comments from little beginnings about five years ago following the partnership between United Biz Media and Montgomery Worldwide. With several of them held here in Nigeria.  We are excited and deeply convinced that your union with Afrocet will yield richer and even more robust conference and exhibition in the years ahead.

Your success indeed inspires and encourages all of us.

When the Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN)  was inaugurated over two years ago, it's fundamental purpose was to serve as the umbrella body of all private security Practitioners in the country. With determination and a sense of purpose by all stakeholders across the length and breadth of the country, this purpose is gradually becoming a reality.

Under this umbrella, members of the profession harmonize to become a veritable tool in introducing and entrenching security consciousness and values in the Nigeria society, fight quackery in the profession while providing an organ for government security agencies and departments to interface with on national security issues.

More importantly however, the Association seeks a forum were members of the profession as well as interested members of the public can meet and learn from one another in ways that will engender increased levels of professionalism for all concerned.

At the inception of the National Executive committee members into office, we had a roadmap.

Topmost of our agenda were the following

1. Unification of private security providers under one umbrella ALPSPN
2. Combat quackery/ unlicensed security companies/ untrained personnel through sensitization and focus on training and uniformity of syllabus.
3. Position the ALPSPN in it's rightful place in the security architecture of the country by interfacing properly with other public security agencies by way of synergy collaboration in information- gathering and Intelligence production.
4. Certification: Development of several levels of Certification programmes which members can partake in to improve the standards of the industry.
5. Organisation of seminars and workshops
6. Chartering: The climax of all our efforts to professionalize the private security industry in Nigeria will be the passing of legislation by government that will cause ALPSPN to be a chartered body.

With this roadmap as it's grundnorm, the association was able to achieve the following in its first two years.

• The production of a detailed and all-encompassing constitution which was ratified at the Annual General Meeting of the Association in October 2016. This constitution meets the yearning and aspiration of members of the association while accommodating every practitioners engaged in every area of specialization in the security industry. We were also able to produce and ratify a Code of Conduct for members of the association.
• The association succeeded in unifying security practitioners across the country under the umbrella body (The Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria) by reaching out to individual members across Nigeria and integrating them into the Template already built by the National Executive. The association holds quarterly national executive meetings with all states chairmen in attendance and this forum serves as the think-tank from which projects of the association are articulated, executed and appraised. These meeting always have representatives from our regulatory body (The Nigeria Security & Civil Defence Corps) in attendance and we have opened branches of the association across in all states of the federation.
• Realizing the damage that quackery in our industry does both to member of the security profession and to our potential clients the ALPSPN commenced a robust campaign to stamp out quack and other charlatan that give all of us bad name. In conjunction with the Nigerian Security & Civil Defence Corps. We produced a jingle and other media campaign tools through which our campaigns are now run across conventional local media. This jingle has been localized to suits every campaign is cyberspace and we have set up a commission within the association to drive this from start to finish.
• We have in no small measure contributed our quota to the current security efforts of the country as we have been invited to several fora by the Chief of Defence Staff and other service Chiefs at which we have made meaningful contributions to solving glaring national security challenges. We are proud to say that in January 2016 the Federal Government requested for and received a White Paper from our nascent association comprising our stand and recommendations on the security challenges nationwide.
• In our aspiration to raise the Standard of professionalism in the industry, we have conducted several workshops and seminars nationwide which are usually held in partnership with local branch of the association. At these seminars and Workshops, participants are exposed real life scenarios and brought up to date with current security trends.

As an association, we are particularly proud to be identified with Securex as we view it as one more means by which professionalism is engendered in the industry by organizers security conferences and exhibitions worldwide by which means the practitioner in Nigeria is exposed to security trends and technologies from other climes. Furthermore, this conference in particular seeks to bring cyber security to the front burner while taking practitioners and participants through the labyrinth of what is still vague and unexplored. We cannot shy away from the fact that today’s world is lived on the internet and the cyber security is the new frontier it has become important more than ever before to embrace this reality at this embryonic stage than to arrive when the party is over.

And so as this conference commences, make it a point to assimilate and practice as much of what you will be learnt ng and experiencing, as possible. It is all geared towards making you a better member of this profession which we are all so proud of while enhancing the value you will eventually bring to your environment and the Nigeria Security projects.

Thank you.